


Slow Life

by Amanda_M_J



Category: The Originals (TV), The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Klaroline
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-24
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-07-16 09:35:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16083386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amanda_M_J/pseuds/Amanda_M_J
Summary: Klaus and Caroline have carried on a tentative friendship and then a budding romance meeting every few years across various countries spanning the course of decades. After a 75 year hiatus, Klaus decides its time to break the rules and go first. What's kept her away for so long and will he like what he finds?AU, somewhat canon. Klaroline





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So! I'm having terrible block for my other story and this idea kind of popped in my head and I rolled with it. I'm not super thrilled with the writing (it's not my best) but I'm hoping I can work myself out of this funk. And even if it's bad, it can't be that terrible.   
> Haven't decided if this will be a one shot or what; maybe depends on interest. I've got enough to write a few more chapters at least if so. 
> 
> I'm ignoring season 4/5 and most of season 3 of the Originals because I heard it was awful and I haven't seen it. It's pretty true to canon TVD however.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

2058

“That’s feels wonderful.”

Decades of tracing his fingers over her skin and he had never waned in his astonishment of how smooth she was. He ghosted over the curve of her bare spine, her head pillowed in her crossed arms. Curls spilled across her shoulders and down her back as he tucked some away and kissed the hollow of her neck. Her body was the canvas he got to paint over and over; a different landscape each time they came together.

Promises of last loves aside, he actually hadn’t expected her to make him wait as long as he continued to do so. But this was Caroline Forbes he was in fact dealing with and she was nothing if not thorough. Years as a widow lead into a tentative friendship with him. Emails first, then text messages. They had graduated into phone calls and video chat that spanned nearly twenty years after their tentative and entangled friendship had bloomed.

2022

**_“If I’m in London, where do I go for the best shopping?”_ **

**_“Well hello to you too, love.” Klaus was taken by surprise by her voice flittering through the line. “You’re across the pond?”_ **

**_She cleared her throat. “Look, if this was a mistake- god, I knew I should have called Rebekah. Even if she hates me she wouldn’t let me go dressed badly.”_ **

**_“Where as with me, I’d rather you be not dressed at all.” To his surprise a laugh greeted him. “It’s good to hear from you, Caroline.”_ **

**_“We talk often enough, Klaus.” She reminded him gently. “Although, it’s annoying nice to hear your voice. Did you have any idea how pleasant you can actually sound without threatening to rip someone’s heart out?”_ **

He listened as she spoke of her growing girls-the pains of raising teenagers and the fear of not measuring up as well as their actual mother might have. Alaric was tense subject as Klaus never really got over the envy of their sham engagement. Bonnie and Elena became large topics of coverage; their marriages and expanding families.

2030

**_“Ric doesn’t see it, but I swear sometimes when Josie is laughing I see Kai’s smirk. It gives me the heebie-jeebies.”_ **

**_“I think I would have liked to have met this chap.” Klaus simpered from his side of the computer screen._ **

**_“Why? Because he would give your psychosis a run for its money?” she blinked her annoyance. “Anyway, did I tell you Elena and Damon are pregnant again? And honestly, thank god. Pregnant Elena is mean Elena and it’s great amusement to see human Damon not be able to compel his way out of that.”_ **

**_“If you had just allowed me to be rid of him years ago-”_ **

**_She pointed her finger at the screen with a scowl. “We talked about this. Friends don’t kill other people friends. That’s not how this works.”_ **

**_“You know, you come equipped with a bloody large list of rules for being your friend.”_ **

**_“Well you’re a vampire, so suck it up.”_ **

She still missed her mother dreadfully; had cried for hours into the phone when she found her mother’s badge in a box when she moved once. She had told Klaus her secret comfort was sitting in front of the fireplace, her mother’s leather jacket pulled tight around her. It wasn’t often, but every once in a while, she would speak in soft and pained whispers of Stefan. There was a long simmering resentment there but she would never utter a single word in relation to it.

2038

**_Through the phone screen, he could see her fiddling with the ring on the chain around her neck. “Something on your mind, sweetheart?”_ **

**_She licked her bottom lip; another small tell. “Lizzie wants to wear my wedding dress.” Her forehead crinkled in the center. “And I_ want _her to wear it. I just wasn’t expecting it. I wasn’t expecting to-”_**

**_“Still be in mourning?” the words were just as painful for him to say as it was for her to hear. His voice was thick as he continued, his jaw clenched. “It’s perfectly understandable.”_ **

**_“Actually, what I was going to say was that I wasn’t expecting to feel so…” she searched for the right word and looked at him directly. “…free. Like maybe giving the dress a new life somehow releases me from the one I was holding onto so much.”_ **

****_“What were you were holding onto?”_  
  


**_“A memory.” She breathed. “I feel apart after my mom died. I even flipped my humanity off and I knew I couldn’t, and wouldn’t do that this time. I had the girls to think of, and it would have been selfish of me.” A small sheen of tears glossed over her eyes and she sniffled once as the gained her bearing. “And I’m not selfish, unlike some people. I felt like I had to honor his memory and his sacrifice. But this is a new start.”_ **

**_“For the dress.” He hedged carefully, unwilling to get his hopes up._ **

**_“And for me.” She smiled and shrugged, the light finally radiating from her face once more. “Maybe more.”_ **

On her part, she took great pleasure in advising and admonishing him on his various quarrels and quests he found himself in. After a while, and he would never admit to it, but he found her to be the voice in his head-quelling tempers and forcing him to think through his actions. There were many supernatural beings throughout the Quarter and the world that owed their lives to Caroline. Furthermore, she had helped guide his way through the depths and doubts of fatherhood.

2031

**_“I have not only a prom to plan and chaperone, but I have two teenage daughters that have a graduation in a few weeks.” Caroline raged into the phone as she tucked it between her cheek and her shoulder. “I don’t have time to chaperone you in your wild antics across the swamps of the bayou.”_ **

**_“Funny. I don’t seem to recall asking for your input into the matter, love.” He gritted out on the other end as Caroline uttered a groan of frustration. “Far be it for me to put a dent in you party planning duties.”_ **

**_“I resent that.” She snapped dropping the box in her hands onto the floor beneath her and taking hold of her phone once more. “It’s not just a party, thank you very much. You would know that if you spoke with your daughter more. I know your like a million years old, but there’s this new technology called a cell phone.”_ **

**_“I’m aware.” His tone was flat and Caroline could picture his narrowed eyes. “I chat with Hope often enough. Besides, I was explicitly told I wasn’t to step foot back into Mystic Falls. Caroline Forbes does not dole out idle threats.”_ **

**_“Don’t get cute with me, Klaus.” Caroline sighed. “Stop killing people and Elijah won’t have to call me to try and corral you in line.  Do you think maybe you could try using your words instead of your hands to rip out hearts and snap necks?”_ **

**_“The bloody witches started-”_ **

**_“Oh, for crying out loud!” she interrupted, her hand finding her hip. “Be the bigger person instead of the big bad wolf for once.”_ **

She found amusement in his siblings’ squabbles and often found herself in the middle of them. Elijah was stuck on a pedestal Klaus was content to constantly try and knock over. Rebekah was as spoiled and petulant as ever and Kol was a public nuisance even if he were entertaining. The only sane one in the lot was Freya who had settle down with a family of her own.

2028

**_“You agreed to give up the daggers, Klaus.” Hitting send she tucked her phone back into her pocket. Kol’s frantic phone call had gotten her both amused and annoyed but she had promised to text Klaus regardless._ **

**_“That was before Kol taught my daughter a spell full of optical illusions.”_ **

****_She studied the message that popped up before responding. “What did she make you see?”_  
  


**_There was a long pause, the three dots dancing as he typed. “Well I don’t see how anyone could particularly enjoy waking up to a massive spider crawling across the bed spread.”_ **

**_A loud boisterous laugh erupted from her chest and the shoppers around her in the frozen food aisle stopped to stare at her. “Could have been worse.”_ **

**_“I don’t see how.”_ **

**_“She could have made you think you were human.”_ **

It wasn’t until their respective children were starting were well into their foray into adulthood that Caroline suggested they meet in person.  

2040

**_“I think we should meet.”_ **

**_“Have we not?” Klaus asked with a smirk from the other side of their phone call. He could sense her nervousness with her fluttered responses the entire conversation._ **

**_“I’m serious.” He could hear the long-held sigh escape her, could envision her lip between her teeth in contemplation. It wasn’t often, but they had had the back and forth banter about the scandal it would cause with her friends if they expanded their friendship past their current borders. Klaus found the whole thing ridiculous since they were decades into this._ **

**_“And just what would Scooby and the gang think of that?”_ **

**_“Seriously?” she scoffed. “Fine. It was just a suggestion...”_ **

**_“I can have my plane ready within an hour.” His abrupt but serious interruption had Caroline’s sputtering._ **

**_“Not here!” rushing across her office, she closed the door and sank into the seat in front of her desk. “Not right now. Gosh, you’re so impossible. I just meant, soon.” She groaned but settled into her next confession softly. “I want to see you. Somewhere neutral.”_ **

Somewhere neutral had ended up being a heart of New York City. They planned for a week during the autumn that coincided with the school’s fall break. She had visited a few times over the decades but it was new experiencing it with him. He had greeted her at the airport with a bouquet of sunflowers and she had embarrassingly launched herself into his arms, the flowers slipping from his hands as he gripped her. She looped her arm through his as they leisured through the MET, his face alight with passion as he regaled her with various stories of the paintings and artists. There was a quiet reverence he showed lacing his fingers through hers as they strolled through Central Park in a bustling array of crimson and ginger through the falling leaves.

Their fourth day there, after a dinner consisting of Thai food and very expensive wine that Caroline could not pronounce, she walked to his hotel room door instead of her own. He had quirked up an eyebrow, determined to keep it at her pace, but she had instead rolled her eyes and fisted the fabric of his shirt before rolling her tongue against his. He was embarrassed to admit that he had known exactly how long it had been since the last time and was pleased that once again it was her who took to first step.

Her kisses had been long and languid, a savoring of each other bodies as they mapped the various dips along their skin. He had the time to find the scar on the top of her knee, the sensitive spot at the hilt of her thigh that had her taking in a shudder breath, the warmth of her voice as his name fell from her lips. It had been a startling contrast to their time in the woods so may years prior-then had been all bruising and hard; an explosion of deep-rooted passions being released.

2058

“I can’t believe we finally made it to Paris.” She grinned as she turned her head to face him. There was nothing but a spattering of twinkling Parisian lights dancing across her cheeks as he tucked an errant stand of hair behind her ear. “It will be every better when we finally make it out of bed and into the city.

His fingers continued their dance down her spin as he smirked. “I suppose I still need to show you what the Eiffel Tower has to offer.”

“Yes.” She agreed with a solid nod. “But also there’s the Louvre-“

“Overrated.”

“Happening.” She narrowed her eyes with a playful smile as she tugged at the cords around his neck. “I really love to hear you talk about the art as we walk around.”

“Far be it from me to deny you.” He kissed her then, a gentle tug on his bottom lip as he pulled away. “How long to I have you for this time?”

The trip to New York had been the first of many. They had spent their remaining days in a cocoon of bliss, a snow swirling around their floor to ceiling windows of their hotel room. Caroline had felt they were in a snow globe tangled in sheets unsure where each other limbs began and ended. He had been wonderful and accommodating and it was effortless to forget all the terrible things he had ever done when he was grinning against her lips and whispering in her ear.

Years passed before their next excursion. Still neutral, but Miami had offered dancing and sandy beaches. Chicago was next years later; then Seattle, Lake Tahoe, San Diego, even his compound in New Orleans. It was decades of week-long rendezvous before Caroline allowed international travel. Tokyo had been the first stop in their world tour. The Maldives had been beautiful and India had been transcendent. They gorged on vino and cheese throughout their week in the Tuscan countryside and skinny dipped in the Turks and Caicos.

Biting her lip, she ran her hand along his jaw and cupped his cheek. “Lizzie’s son is having a baby.” Her brow furrowed, Klaus knew that look of all too well. “Klaus, I think maybe we should take a little break. I’m technically a great grandmother and I have to just pretend I’m some long-lost cousin all the time. It’s exhausting.”

“All the more reason to stay with me, love.” He ducked his head to look into her eyes. “Best looking great grandmother if I do say so myself.”

“The girls are getting older.” She sighed, her forehead resting against his. “Ric passing away was hard on them.  Bonnie and Elena-“

“I know.” He offered a half-hearted smile, but it seemed off with his hard line.  He had already waited an eternity for her already, accepting the small doses she afforded him throughout the years. What was a few decades more?

X-x-X

2133

To date, this was the longest they had stayed apart.

 

Being a supernatural dynasty was tough business and Caroline had thought it best to focus on what remaining family she had left. They had an eternity she had said; a never-ending supply of forever. She would never admit to it, but Klaus had the sneaking suspicion she had met someone, or multiple someone’s of the course of the years. He would never be able to deny anything that created joy for her and he patiently bid his time.

It was an unwritten rule that she wrote the rules; it would have to be her to come to him when the time was right. He wanted her safe however and had various hybrids and vampires alike keep tabs on her throughout the years.  She had decidedly ended that when she had sent all four vampires back to him in a suffering of werewolves’ bites and a cheeky pointed letter to back off.

His kingdom had come under attack and fallen multiple times over the decades only to be risen once again by him. It found it be taxing with very little reward or reaping of benefits. Supernatural and humans alike feel at his feet, hybrids were sired to him in unwavering loyalty and he had never felt more alone in his thousand years.

75 years was long enough and he had grown tired of waiting.

He convinced a witch to conjure a locator spell and within a few days he had arrived in a wild, vast open space of Tennessee. The house was small nestled in a valley of mountains, the colors of fall a vibrant cacophony of blistering reds and burnt oranges. A fire was burning in the hearth, it’s smoke billowing across the sky as he made his way down a path and through a small fence into the large back yard.

As someone who typically had a contingency plan for plans B, C, and D he found himself at a lose for how to approach her. He hazard that she would be happy to see him, if not annoyed at first but that he could probably persuade her to come around. In the back corner of the lawn is where he found her; her back facing him as she dug in the vegetable garden around him. It was very much hers; a animated display of red and green and yellow peppers, carrots, and tomatoes. He could smell cilantro and basil, and the smallest hint of lavender.

A small breeze swirled around him and he was overwhelmed by the scent of her honey perfume wafting through. A present he had gifted her in Rome, it was nice to know she still wore it after all the time that had passed. She shuffled on her knees, running her hand along her forehead before bracing herself to stand up from kneeling.

As a vampire he wasn’t required to breathe, and he logically knew that, but he still sucked in a deep breath as she stood erect in front of him. Three quarters of a century in waiting and he was finally going to see her one more. He had pictures and letters to placate him, but he ached for her smile and all of her light that she showered upon him.

She spun slowly, her apron tucked up in her fisted hand to hold up the vegetables in her makeshift hammock. Dusting her other hand off the side of her dress she took a few steps forward before glancing up. Seeing Klaus standing in front her had her gulping in a harsh intake of air, her hand letting go of the fabric as the vegetables dropped around her feet.

“Klaus.”

“Hello, love.”

Her face was still everything he had memorized and painted and sketched throughout the years and it was everything he was so focused on; her bright blue eyes, the lips he has spent so much time worshipping, the constellation of freckles he had explored, the soft lines of her cheeks. Closing the short distance, he cupped her jaw relishing in the feel of her skin next to his. Tugging her into his grasp, she coiled her arms around his neck and squeezed as her face nuzzled into his neck.

With that, three things were a realization in quick succession.

She was too warm.

He could decipher the distinct beating of two hearts against his chest.

Strong, beautiful, full of life Caroline was human and with child.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I have at least a good five chapters in me for this little ficlet. The characters are definitely talking to me and I think I have the backstory and mythology nailed down. 
> 
> Super unbetaed so my typos suck. Love me anyway.

Chapter 2

_2048_

_“What are you giggling about?”_

_Klaus kissed Caroline’s cheek as he sank into the beach chair next to her. The Mediterranean Sea stretched out before them in a brilliant blue and green on the crystalline white beaches of Greece. They had explored the ruins of Athens in the morning, napped and made love on their boat anchored in the harbor, and now were relaxing with their feet in the water and the sun high._

_“Bonnie.” She scoffed playfully showing Klaus her phone. “She and Enzo are in Taiwan. Enzo is panicked over his first gray hair.”_

_“You ever consider it?”_

_“What’s that?”_

_“Taking the cure.” He supplied, his fingers running through the strands of her hair. “Before, you didn’t have a choice and now you do.”_

_She bit her lip briefly. “If I were going to take the cure, I would have already taken it when everyone was still young enough that I could age with them. If I take it now, most everyone will be gone.”_

_He bent down, brushing his lips across hers, pleased with her answer. “I’m not going anywhere; even if you are still a baby vampire.”_

x-X-x

2133

Somehow, he had managed to quell every inch of rage simmering just beneath the surface. He had stumbled away from her as if he had been burned and he had heard the audible gulp slide down her throat once there was distance placed between them. He had cared for this woman for decades, and the hatred and betrayal that was filling every inch of his body was overwhelming; a different kind of desiccation that had him thrumming in every cell and fiber.

Her rapid heartbeat strummed in his ears, the blue of her eyes vibrant in his vision as she winced back the sheen of tears pooling within them. Tearing her look away from him, she took stock of the vegetables arranged around her feet, a new look of determination masking her features. Carefully she placed her hand under the bulging belly and grabbed a few of the vegetables, stalking past Klaus, bumping into his shoulder as she did so.

He watched her, dumbfounded as she stomped her way up onto her back porch and into her house, the back-screen door slamming with a bang. He couldn’t think of a single thing in all his thousand plus years that he had been more caught off guard. He had made the vow to stay away and allow her to live a life of her choosing but he never even considered the possibility of her taking the cure. Hadn’t she always loved being a vampire?

“Where the bloody hell do you get off?” he spoke through the screen door, the timbre in his voice shaking the house around them. Caroline didn’t even acknowledge his presence at the kitchen island as she continued to chop up the tomatoes in front of her. Klaus’s palm connected with the frame and the door flew clear of it’s hinges when he pulled it open. “Invite me in.” the words were spat through clenched teeth as Caroline continued her vigorous mincing, her jaw set. “Caroline!”

Slamming down the knife, she placed both palms flat on the countertop, her head low. “Come in.”

“How bloody could you?”

“You have no idea what you’re talking Klaus.” She hissed, the tip of the knife slicing through the pad of her finger. She let a small gasp escape her lips at the pain, the blade clanking against the butcher block top. Klaus swallowed hard, the scent of her blood hitting his nostrils in a painful swell. He made the motion to go towards her but she held up her hand and threw him a stern look that stopped him in his tracks. “I got it. I’m fine.”

He rocked on the balls of his feet and took a step back as she scooped up her apron and affixed it around her bloody finger. “You owe me an explanation.”

“I’m aware this may come as a shock to you,” giving one last glance over the cut on her finger, she began her chopping once more. “But contrary to popular belief, you are in fact not entitled to every thing you want like some spoiled brat. I swear you could give my five-year-old a run for her money with your petulance.”

“Pardon me, your what year old?” he sputtered uncharacteristically. Before he could stop himself, his hand was gripping a chair and smashing it against the old and knotted wood floor.

A stuttered ‘oh’ fell from Caroline’s lips and she took a step back as the wood splintered in her direction. Taking in stock of the destruction before her, a determined look swept across her features and she snatched up the knife left discarded on the butcher block and stomped towards Klaus, the tip of the blade a beacon honing in on him.

“Seriously?” she shouted, stepping easily over the deconstructed chair despite her bulging belly. Klaus remained affixed as still as a statue, the only movement the violent rise and fall of the heaves of his chest as he worked through the anger coursing through him.

Thinking through all the information he had gathered thus far, he had no choice but to assume that Caroline was married. The kinked and worn ring on her left hand was a major clue, however the new knowledge of another child all but sealed the deal. Categorically, he couldn’t put it into any kind of order that made him angrier over the other; the cure, children, marriage, lies, betrayal, ache…

He held his palms up in surrender just as she reached him. The knife they both knew would do little but cause annoyance, but his approach thus far had been gaining him very little. “You come into my home, demanding answers when I owe you exactly none, and then start these predictable and disappointing ravings like the big bad wolf you want everyone to think you are and you’re curious as to why I stayed away for so long?!”

“I-”

“No.” she shunted his efforts of explanation or apology, she wasn’t sure, his mouth hanging open. The look would have been comical, considering the source, had she had been seeping in such hatred and unnecessary stress. “There are mountains right in my back yard if you want to tear something apart. Feel free to rip through the forest, but so help me Klaus, if you don’t get over whatever this tantrum is right now, I will burn the earth looking for the last splinter of White Oak and shove it in your aorta!”

“Your threats of a good time could use some polishing,” he conceded after a moment, his body sliding easily into a chair he had not destroyed. “Unless of course you’re saving that for your husband.”  


The flash of pain did not go unnoticed by Klaus, even though she quickly recovered. “I have to go pick up my daughter from school.” Taking in a breath, she too took a seat in a chair next to her breakfast table, her hand snuggly under the belly for support. It was both familiar and foreign as Klaus automatically lent a hand to the small of her back to ease her journey. A small smile was offered in gratitude, even if it was skewed slightly as a grimace. Her voice was warm honey, a memory of soft words murmured in his ears as she spoke next. “I do; owe you an explanation. You aren’t owed any of my decisions, but I can explain everything.”

Now that he had sufficient time to reel in some of the shock of the position he was in, he was able to appreciate the features that had changed in the near century since he had seen her last. The unfortunate part of the cure was that aging once again resumed, and she no longer was encased as a teenager for eternity. Besides the obvious bump in her abdomen, there was new curves to her hips, laugh lines at the corner of her eyes, a scar on her forearm that wasn’t there before.  She was still so much _Caroline_ , however. The same soft blonde curls cupped her shoulders, her blue eyes shone just a bright and the same crinkle in her brow indented in the middle.

“This was a mistake.” He cleared his throat once; an invisible human reflex that was that wholly unfamiliar to him after a thousand years of being immortal. Caroline, it seemed, even after all this time still brought out the most in his humanity, right down to the ticks. “I vowed to never disrupt your life or intrude…”

“It’s ok.” She clasped his hand, the shock of heat from her pulsing blood causing him to flinch infinitesimally. Glancing up at the clock, her palm gave way to a gentle squeeze of his fingers. “I really do need to pick up my daughter from school. I don’t want to have to explain you to the gossipy moms in the carpool line, so do you think you can behave for half an hour?”

The roll of his eyes and small scoff that accompanied it brought a grin to her face at last.

“It’s nice that things haven’t changed after all this time.” She wiggled herself out of the chair, slipping off the apron and hanging it on the hook. Grabbing her purse and keys off the table she turned back to him. “Be here when I get back.” It was a plea, and it sounded desperate to her ears even though the demand came through brilliantly. “And fix the door, please.”

X-x-X

_2053_

_“Would you say yes?”_

_The kink in her head elicited a handsome smirk. Lounging lazily in the oversized chair, the fire roaring next to him, he was up to something. Decades in these dalliances with him and she could always tell he was up to his devious ways. Granted so far, she still had yet to determine most of the time if he was intent of wiping out an entire sub species or coming up with new and creative ways to get her naked and in bed._

_“What would I be saying yes to?” she smiled, her grip around the mug in her hand tightening as she took a sup of the cocoa. It was flavored slightly with a hint a whiskey and peppermint, the perfect compliment to the falling snow and twinkling lights outside. Christmas in Aspen had been the exact recipe for everything she desired with Klaus._

_“Don’t be daft, love.” Draping his leg over the arm of the chair, he nodded his head in her direction. “I saw your reaction to the ceremony we came across earlier in the day.”_

_Sinking into the large chair across from him she eyed him curiously but didn’t allow her expression to give anything away. “Would I be saying yes to you or some arbitrary man in the future?” His eyes were narrowed but his countenance was still full of amusement._

_“Humor me.”_

_“We’re vampires, Klaus.” She deadpanned with a casual roll of her eyes. He adored that annoyance he brought out. “We have an insurmountable of time stretching in front of us.”_

_“And you’ve already been married.” He pointed out. She winced; she still thought often enough of Stefan and having the reminder of his death on their wedding day was still harsh. Klaus, at least had the grace to look chagrined._

_“You would never.” She challenged, even as the pit in her stomach grew at the softness in his features as he looked at her. Decades long past, she still had the tiniest twinges of terror remembering the first few years with him in her life. There was such defiance and pain burrowed deep in him, a raging wolf always eager to surface. His sweet two dimpled smile was always her undoing._

_“Is that a dare?”_

_“It’s a promise.” She pulled the candy cane out of her mug and dipped into her mouth, pulling it out with an audible ‘pop’. Setting her cup on the table in front of her, she sauntered over to his chair, her eyebrows quirking up as she motioned for him to make space for her. It was a familiar descent into his lap and his waiting arms as they circled around in a well-worn path around her waist. There was a warm caress along her neck and a gentle tug at her curls as he pulled her lips closer to his._

_“yes…”_

X-x-X

Pulling into her driveway and shutting off the engine, Caroline glanced back at her daughter. The precocious 5-year-old was preoccupied with the book in her hand, unaware of everything that was shifting around their family unit. She couldn’t even be certain that Klaus was still in her kitchen, and it bothered her to no end that she didn’t know if that was what she wanted or not.

The small indents in her wedding band glistened in the afternoon sun as she twisted it around her finger. She couldn’t bring herself to take it off as the idea had been horrifying and heart wrenching in equal measure. The act just seemed so final; much more than placing his coffin in the ground, or identifying his body, or explaining to her child that her father was never coming home.

“Gracie.” She commanded the little girl’s attention immediately. “Mommy has a friend here and he’s very important. So, I want you to go upstairs and do your homework. Then we’re gonna have dinner with him.”

There was a mumbled reply from the child and she dove right back into book. There was a small part of her that was wanting a tantrum just so that she would have an excuse to not go in there and face him. As she gathered her and Gracie’s things out of the car, she thought over the lifetimes she had share with Klaus so far. It had been naïve to think that he would ever had simply just let them go when they had shared so much.

“You fixed the door.”

His shirt was off and his taut muscles stretched across his shoulder blades. She held Gracie’s hand as they meandered up the path, his arm swinging a hammer to rehang the door he had pulled off the hinges earlier. Next to him on the desk, the piece of the chair that he had destroyed previously laid stacked up neatly in a pile.

“I was imparted with direct orders.”

It had taken him a lot longer than he would have liked to decide to stay. He was normally so very decisive and impulsive; the fact that he had remained a rooted fixture for more than 10 minutes after Caroline had left him in her kitchen bothered him endlessly. As much as every fiber was tearing at him to run, to turn even, he couldn’t bear the thought of never _knowing._

Taking in the small child clutching Caroline’s hand, he searched every stitch to find some resemblance that wasn’t Caroline. But everything from the girls long blonde curls, to the bright blue eyes and every present forehead furrow was so much Caroline, that he found both relief in it and a burning ache of what never would be.

“Gracie,” Caroline looked down, the little girl’s steely burning into Klaus’s presence. “This is my friend, Klaus.”

“When my daughter was very small, I made her a trinket.” Klaus maneuvered down the steps to the pathway, fishing out the trinket he had craved out quickly while they had been away. He outstretched the bauble to Gracie and waited anxiously as she hesitated before taking it.

“A dog?”

Klaus smiled as Gracie turned it around in her hand, examining the features. “A wolf, actually. They’re strong and powerful. The truth is, wolf pups especially are so brave and fierce. I can astutely assure you they can do anything.”

“They can?” Gracie tone of wonderment had Caroline reaching for her throat as she swallowed thickly. It was scene so foreign; Klaus with her daughter in an interaction so pure but a shadow of a memory she had seen played out so many times with her husband. “My daddy used to tell me stories about wolves.”

“Oh?”  


“Ok, bug. Run upstairs and do your homework. I’ll call you down for dinner in just a little while.” Caroline ushered Gracie up the stairs to the back deck past Klaus, careful of the back door still not quite on the hinges.

She didn’t wait for Klaus to come back into the kitchen, nor was she surprised when she spun to see him already casually sitting at the breakfast table. Checking on the stew she had left in the crock pot prior to leaving, she placed a kettle on the stove, the gas hissing and popping until the blue flame danced underneath the ceramic.

Leaning against the kitchen island she grew more distressing with each passing second of silence. Time took on a different meaning when she had been a vampire. As a human now, it felt weighted and limited; much more finite. There had been a time that the mystery of what was ticking in his mind at any given moment was a fun guessing game. The shrill of the kettle shook her from her reverie and she poured them each tea in two mismatched tea cups.

“You remember how I like my tea.” He commented as she stirred, clinking the spoon a few times on the rim of the cup.

She scoffed, latching onto his hand and turning it palm up. Fingering the scar along his wrist she sighed. “You were 12 or 13; Kol and you were sparring in the woods and you fell. A branched pierced your skin and a rock got embedded. You tried to keep it from your parents so you had Rebekah stitch you up.”

“Indeed.” He nodded, his hand flipping over so fast and grabbing hers that the gasped. His thumb ghosted over the veins under her skin. “She did a rather piss job of it, but I didn’t die. Not then anyway.”

“I remember more than you give my pitiful human mind credit for.” She sucked in her breath with a raggedness that felt strange to her. Even in the depths of terror and hatred for this man in front of her, she was never so uncomfortable. “Why do you still look at me like that?”

The words tumbled out of her mouth like she was sixteen and bumbling all over again. “How do I look at you?”

“I’m human.” She whispered; and even though they both knew it, the admission out loud made it so much more complete. Her hand was still in his and for the only time that she could ever remember, there was a drastic temperature difference that she found she wasn’t opposed to. His expression begged for more explanation and she fought back the tears threatening to betray her. “Weak. Fragile. Disposable. Why do you still look at me like-”

His palm was sweeping her jaw and into her cheek before she could finish. “Caroline, love.” His thumb caressed her skin as the tears glistened in her eyes. An odd battle raged inside of him; he yearned to give into the anger and pain and destruction but it was quelled so much by the desire to make her happy, to ensure her safety and well-being that it was easy to ignore every ounce of information he had learned in the last few hours. “On the contrary, you are anything but, sweetheart.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have half of chapter 3 done. 
> 
> I have no clue how to end this whole thing. So I'm gonna wing it.


End file.
